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Whole Dungeness Crab Recipes

No matter how you choose to look at crab, you’ll find that, “whole Dungeness crab is one of the best,” says everybody. It is a great crab for cooking and eating because it has a higher ratio of meat to shell than many other crabs. A whole crab is more than enough of a serving for one person. So you always get more bang for your buck with this crab!

A crab with any other name just wouldn’t be the same…

Dungeonous crab, Dungess Crab, Dungenes crab, Dungeoness crab, Dungenous crab…I’ve heard them all! The correct name is Dungeness and it is named after a small coastal region named Dungeness Washington. The townsfolk worship this crustacean in their annual crab festival that happens every October.

This town goes bezurk at the festival; where whole crabs are in abundance. There are a lot of different ideas from the crab chef professionals on how to enjoy this crab.

Here’s one of my favorites that I tend to make on special occasions. You will need fresh live Dungeness for this recipe.

Whole Live Dungeness Crab Steamed in Coconut Milk

Ingredients:

2 large Dungeness crabs

1 can of coconut milk

1 can of coconut cream

Lemon zest from 1 lemon

2 fresh chili peppers (chopped fine)(or to taste)

2 cloves of garlic (minced)

Sea salt to taste

2 stalks of green onions (chopped)

Method to the Rad-ness:

Run your crabs (handle one at a time) underwater and gently scrub their shells to remove any debris. Put them in the freezer for a couple of minutes to make it easier to steam them alive.

While they are in the freezer prepare the steaming mixture by adding the coconut milk, coconut cream, lemon zest, chili peppers, garlic and salt to the bottom pot of your steamer.

Put the pot on medium/high heat and cover. Once the milk starts to boil, remove the crabs from the freezer and add them to the steamer, shell side down –so their legs are pointing up. Cover with the lid and set the steamer on top of the pot.

Set your timer for 14 minutes.

Remove and clean your crabs. If you need help you can check out our crab cleaning page here.

Place your crabs in a bowl to serve and pour the steaming sauce over top of the cleaned crabs. Add the green onions for garnish.

Run your crabs (handle one at a time) underwater and gently scrub their shells to remove any debris. Put them in the freezer for a couple of minutes to make it easier to steam them alive.

While they are in the freezer prepare the steaming mixture by adding the coconut milk, coconut cream, lemon zest, chili peppers, garlic and salt to the bottom pot of your steamer.

Put the pot on medium/high heat and cover. Once the milk starts to boil, remove the crabs from the freezer and add them to the steamer, shell side down –so their legs are pointing up. Cover with the lid and set the steamer on top of the pot.

Set your timer for 14 minutes.

Remove and clean your crabs. If you need help you can check out our crab cleaning page here.

Place your crabs in a bowl to serve and pour the steaming sauce over top of the cleaned crabs. Add the green onions for garnish.